The 76 malls operating in Romania last year received roughly EUR 660 million from the stores they hosted, 22,8% more than in 2020 and an all-time record for the Romanian retail market. Only six malls earned less in 2021 than they did the previous year, according to Profit.ro.

There are 7,600 stores in Romania’s malls. Roughly 37% of the rent paid by local stores went to the owners of Bucharest’s 17 malls.

If Europeans have an average purchasing power of EUR 15,055 per capita, Romanians stand at EUR 7,453.

Bucharest residents fare somewhat better, with an average per capita purchasing power almost 86% above the national average but still 8% below the European average. Vaslui county is at the other end of the spectrum, with approximately 28% of the average European purchasing power. Romanians spend nearly a third of their income in retail.

Thriving stores pay hefty rents to mall operators, which in 2020 opened four new shopping centers despite the raging pandemic, in Târgu Mureș, Târgoviște, Sfântu Gheorghe and Brașov.

Mall operators in Romania used the record revenue to cover some of the debt incurred for building the malls. The debt level of the 76 malls in Romania fell last year from EUR 3.9 billion to EUR 3.4 billion.

The South-African firm NEPI Rockcastle remains atop the ranking of mall operators in Romania, with a revenue of EUR 200 million in 2021. Their twenty malls brought in 25% more in rent revenue than in 2020.

The success is ongoing, as the firm’s malls saw a 35% uptick in traffic in the first trimester of the current year, with a 53% increase in in-store sales relative to 2021.

(Photo: Arne9001/ Dreamstime)

radu@romania-insider.com